Is it comforting to be thought of as a slab of meat?

I have heard this used with the intension of comforting someone who is embarrassed and uncomfortable exposing private parts of their body and/or being touched in those places.

More recently I have seen it posted on this site. You’re a disembodied organ, vagina, breast, whatever. I personally find this insulting. Whether the medical professional is thinking that way or not, will not lessen the embarrassment (or in my case) arousal one bit.

Another useless effort to comfort is, “Oh, they see this every day (several times a day) it doesn’t mean anything to them.”

It means something to me! (and to lots of other patients.) I do not get naked in front of strangers everyday and let them touch me in the most intimate possible way. It shouldn’t be hard for any other human being to understand and empathize. Disregard of these feelings is inhumane, because it is those very feelings that make us human.

When extra disrobing or exposure is done for their convenience or expedience it is inhumane. To be considered an object that can be uncovered, poked and prodded stuck off in a corner for agonizing lengths of time until they are good and ready to deliver the next indignity is inhumane.

I find extraordinary irony in the fact that a hospital is one of (if not the) most inhumane places you’ll ever be.

What do you think?

Jackie

I wouldn't say it is "comforting" per se, but most people who are not medical fetishists like us here would be even more disturbed by the thought of medical professionals getting enjoyment - sexual or otherwise - out of the process. So "you're a slab of meat" is lesser of two evils.

I think your right Jackie, nothing worse than being treated like a piece of meat. I have never experienced being treated like that in the clinic, but I think you are right about the hospital being that way sometimes. I guess the doctors get so busy sometimes, that their motions are all mechanical. I enjoy it so much more when the doctor takes his time, carries on a conversation with you, has a good personality and bedside manner, and treats you like a friend.

That sounds like me making that statement in the thread, "Do they remove your clothes during surgery"

http://erotic-clinic.zity.biz/forum/index.php?topic=5690.0 response #2

I don't think any of you who responded to the initial post here, clearly recall the exact statement and context in which it was made. Here is what I said:

You remove your clothes, put on a gown, get onto the gurney and they take you into the OR after consultation with your surgeon, OR nurse or anesthesiologist. Once in the OR, they take off your gown usually after you are asleep. As soon as that happens, you are draped for the procedure. You are NOT naked during the procedure. Only the surgical area is exposed, absolutely everything else is covered, and that usually happens quickly, using large drapes to cover major areas and successively smaller ones, until only the area they are working on is exposed. For example, for a D&C, the area exposed showing the vagina is about the size of a 4x6 index card. The vagina is completely out of context of being connected to a person. It isn't a big enough area for anyone to get excited over.

Besides, we've seen it all before, and it's only an anus, scrotum, penis or vagina or any body part covered by your underwear or bathing suit. I can tell you from first hand experience, once you've literally had your hand in a few doing real hospital exams, one is just like another, and while those parts are connected to a person, they are in fact, just another piece of gland, organ meat or muscle. It isn't a big deal. It doesn't become a big deal unless you are emotionally involved. A real breast, hernia or prostate examination is very different from doing the same activity while playing with your spouse or S.O. Your physician doesn't think anything more about examining your prostate than you feel about ckecking out a good piece of fruit in the food market. It's his or her job, and that's all. When I go to my gynecologist, I know he DOESN'T think to himself, "Oh wow! I'm going to see Susan laid out naked and vulnerable and that turns me on," because I am just one of many patients he sees in the same position. But, when my husband and I go to bed at night, I know that's EXACTLY what he thinks, and that turns both of us on, and I'M GLAD. A real examination by a physician is different from a play exam because of the professionalism, the lack of emotional involvement and and your expectations in a professional relationship.

++++++++++++++++++++

When we examine a patient or are performing surgery, we don't get excited in a sexual manner. Except when you are in a sexual setting, the body parts ARE just another piece of muscle, gland or organ meat that is being examined, and the truth is, we do a better job when we have the only the specific part we are treating visible in the surgical field. We don't have distractions. I will say from personal experience, that it is easier to work on any part of someone's body than their face after they have been in a car wreck and we have to see and re-assemble the mangled parts that a few minutes earlier was a happy healthy person. We are very aware the patient is a living human being with feelings and family members who want that person to return to their daily life in a healed condition. I never said we TREAT you like a slab of meat. I said we get about as excited as you might in a food store selecting a piece of fruit of a piece of meat. You want a practitioner who is a professional and is acting wholly in your best medical interest.

If you feel you are being treated impersonally, that is the fault of your practitioner, and that it NOT what I meant to convey.

This is a bit embarrassing to admit, but I once had a "problem" that I was concerned with concerning my penis. Namely, a band of tissue suddenly appeared underneath the skin near the circumcision scar and I was afraid that there was something wrong with me. Not terribly afraid, because it did not hurt or get worst, or do ANYTHING, it just looked odd.

I had just been to my doctor about a month ago for a check-up and she had examined me there and everything was fine. I ended up going back to her for something else (I don't recall, a cold or something probably) and when we were done, she asked me if there was anything else that I was concerned with.

This is where my remarkably bad judgment, exhibitionist tendencies and medical fetish all converged in one incredibly bad decision: I mentioned my concern about my penis and implicitly asked her if she could look to see if it was something that I should be worried about. Keep in mind that this was not a full exam, so I was still fully dressed...

She gave me a really suspicious and evil look and reminded me that she had just examined my penis about a month ago and it was fine. She asked me if it was bleeding or anything (it was not) and told me not to worry about it. But the way she looked at me and her tone of voice made it clear that she thought that my intentions were less than honorable/professional. She was right, of course, but I did actually have some legitimate concern about it. The problem corrected itself within a month.

My reason for telling this story is that, as unpleasant and embarrassing as the situation was, it was also reassuring in that she obviously realized that I was more than just a piece of meat, else she would not have been so suspicious of my intentions.

No matter how a medical professional may want to think of your erogenous zones, that doesn't change the fact that they are your erogenous zones. I appreciate that the whole concept of keeping a professional distance is in the best interest of me as a patient, but I would still find the thought that a female examining my penis is able to so easily block out an awareness of what she is holding.

I should add that she is actually a very nice, caring doctor who I am scheduled to return to for a physical in less than a month. So no serious damage was done to my relationship with her as a result of this incident.

Thanks for the clarification Susie, I may not have read your post, but I wasn't referring to it either.

Thank you for your comments Susie.

My original post was definitely not directed at you or anything you’ve said.

My point was (and is) that I have always felt (with extremely rare exceptions) that I was a piece of meat. Regards for my feelings, modesty or anxiety are pretty much non-existent. At some point there may be some ceremonial hand-holding but once the process/procedure gets into full swing any regard that I am still a human being seems to get lost.

The adages that go hand in hand with: ‘You’re just a piece of meat’ and ‘they see it all the time’ are ‘they’re so busy... they have so much to do’ explaining why they don’t consider or have time for the niceties. Well I’m sorry if they have too much to do and can’t keep up. For me that’s not a good enough reason to be inhumane, in the profession that should epitomize humanity. Those medical professionals (and I regret to say it includes most that I have met) should go and apply their skills and abilities on something that doesn’t have feelings.

Jackie,

I think to some extent doctors have to take a sort of desensitized attitude - not with the intention of being inhumane, but to shield themselves from the pain and the suffering that they encounter everyday. You see this process of desensitization in soldiers - they learn to see the people their fighting as non-entities, because otherwise at the kill-or-be-killed moment they might hesitate and not do what they have to do to stay alive. I imagine some doctors feel they have to keep their guard up against empathizing too much or they might not focus on doing what's needed to treat the patient - you can't think of the pain you might cause or the consequences of your actions if you're wrong or you might hesitate to do what will keep your patient alive.

That said, does a doctor have to make you feel like a side of beef pulled out of the freezer in order to be a good doctor? Of course not. An important part of a doctor's training is bedside manner, and no matter how clinical the doctor has to be while treating you, his manner should be good enough to put you at ease. Unfortunately, there are some brilliant doctors out there who couldn't put a patient at ease if their life depended on it, and it sounds like you've had to deal with a few of them.

Jackie I think I think I understand this problem, and it I don't, just slap me up against the side of the head. In the US the health care system is for profit, patients are seen as paying customers, and hospitals go out of their way to see that patients are well cared for. In countries that have a government run healthcare system, patients are seen as a number, and just another added expense to the system. This could possibly be where you get the feeling of being treated as "just a slab of meat." If these words are to harsh, and offend anyone, I apologise ahead of time.

Part of my enjoyment of exams comes from the doctor being a stranger who is cold and clincal. I never see the same doctor twice so that helps in avoiding any interpersonal relationship. I want the doctor to be impersonal, stern, and to have no concern about my privacy or comfort during the exam. I prefer a doctor with zero personality, whcih, fortunately, is very easy to come by. I also prefer middle aged and unattractive. I love being treated like a piece of meat.

In 'real life' not too pleasant, but in play to be helpless and touched/invaded is a real turn-on. This is a major motivation for me being on sites like these, to have the possibiity of such real physical experiences. I have required authentic traements beyond my control which I have not enjoyed but ache for play situations where my lack of control is volunteered and offered, rather than beyond my control.